FEMA Records
9
Low volume
Colorado · FEMA + NOAA + National Risk Index
Prowers County, CO
9 FEMA disaster declarations (1965-2023), with a FEMA National Risk Index rating of Relatively Low. Most common hazard: Flood.
- 9
- FEMA declarations
- 5
- Major disasters
- 49
- NRI risk · Relatively Low
- Flood
- Top hazard
The verdict
Start with the local benchmark for Prowers County: 9 FEMA declaration records are 12% below the Colorado county mean, even though the count is higher than 8% of counties in the national registry. On FEMA's distinct National Risk Index model, which combines expected loss with vulnerability and resilience, the county ranks safer than 49%.
- Safer than 49%
- of U.S. counties for FEMA National Risk Index score
- Relatively Low
- FEMA National Risk Index rating
- 9
- FEMA declarations vs 21 national county avg
- 25
- NFIP flood insurance claims filed
FEMA's National Risk Index and its declaration registry are separate measures. This county's registry includes Major Disaster (DR) and Emergency (EM) records; an EM authorizes a narrower set of federal assistance than a DR.
FEMA OpenFEMA declaration desk
County FIPS 08099 · Prowers County 9 declarations · rank 2949/3,266
DECL-LIGHT · MAJOR-MID · RANK-LOWER · PHOTO-FINISH · NRI-LOW · ACT-MODERATE · TYPE-LEAD · VS-ST-BELOW
- DECL-LIGHT 9
- MAJOR-MID 56%
- RANK-LOWER #2,949
- PHOTO-FINISH Fulton
- NRI-LOW 49
- ACT-MODERATE Moderate
- TYPE-LEAD Flood
- VS-ST-BELOW -12%
Nearest declaration peer: Fulton, OH (0 declaration gap)
FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 filing stamps for this county register. Read with this county → · Colorado state profile
Prowers County among counties with fewer federal records
FEMA declaration records among Prowers County and nearest peers by total count
- Los Angeles · largest
Los Angeles · largest
88 declarations
- Fulton · near 9
Fulton · near
9 declarations
- Gallatin · near 9
Gallatin · near
9 declarations
- Hillsdale · near 9
Hillsdale · near
9 declarations
- Prowers · this county 9
Prowers · this county
9 declarations
- Ujelang · smallest 1
Ujelang · smallest
1 declarations
What this shows Prowers County carries 9 FEMA declaration records, ranked 2949 of 3,266 counties in this registry.
Prowers County versus quieter counties in this dataset
Prowers County among lower-declaration counties nationally
FEMA disaster declarations, all-time · Prowers County
9 8th percentile higher than 8% of 3,266 counties
Each bar is a band; taller bars hold more counties. The dashed line + filled bar mark this entry. Hover or tap any bar for its full count, share, and where it sits relative to this entry.
Source FEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 · 2026-08-25
Prowers County's FEMA Risk Index score
Which hazard drives modeled loss here?
FEMA's modeled annual dollar loss for Prowers County is led by Riverine Flooding (about $4.3M Expected Annual Loss, Historical Loss Ratio Relatively High), while Drought carries the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High). EAL and risk score use different inputs; they need not agree.
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (December 2025 release) - Expected Annual Loss vs composite risk rating by hazard.
What does Prowers County's hazard record show?
FEMA National Risk Index
FEMA's data shows an elevated National Risk Index composite of 48.6/100 for this county (Relatively Low rating). Expected Annual Loss comes in at Very Low (roughly $10.3M in annualized losses). Social vulnerability (Very High) and community resilience (Very Low) both factor into how that raw exposure plays out on the ground. Of the 18 hazards FEMA models, Drought stands out as the sharpest exposure here, rated Relatively High. FEMA's modeled frequency puts that hazard at 92 modeled event-days per year here, based on 2,793 historical events on record.
Reading the federal records together
This county has a small entry in FEMA's NFIP paid-claims table: 25 claims and $29.7K paid in total. PlainHazard calls 1-49 claims a light registry record, a label for this dataset rather than a finding that flood exposure is low. A short claims history can also reflect insurance take-up, the period covered, or losses that were never insured.
Start with the state benchmark: a Colorado county averages 10.2 federal declaration records, while Prowers County has 9. The gap is 12% below that mean. Fewer entries indicate a quieter history of recorded federal actions, not immunity from a hazard and not a prediction about what happens next.
50 /100
Historical Activity Index
High historical activity
Prowers County, CO · PlainHazard-derived composite from federal records
This 0–100 index is an explicit PlainHazard composite from FEMA declaration history only on the county surface (this DB has no county-level NOAA damage row) . It is not FEMA's National Risk Index, not a forecast, and not a safety, insurance, or preparedness rating. Open the calculator · Methodology
FEMA Declarations (1953–present) Low
7/30
9 OpenFEMA declarations, full ingest window (0.4x national county average)
County Disaster Density Moderate
11/25
9 declarations (0.9x state county average of 10)
Major Disaster Share High
14/25
5 of 9 declarations are major disasters (56%)
Hazard Diversity Very High
18/20
7 different disaster types declared in Prowers County
FEMA NRI 8-hazard radar - Prowers County
How to read this radar
Each axis: NRI risk rating (Very Low-Very High) on a 0-100 scale. Rounder = broad exposure; spiky = one or two hazards dominate.
Major Disaster share
56%
Major-heavy
NRI risk score
49
Relatively Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Per-county per-hazard ratings, December 2025 release
How often does each hazard strike Prowers County?
FEMA's National Risk Index models a historical event count and an annualized frequency for each hazard type. Most hazards are expressed as modeled occurrences per year; FEMA expresses drought and heat-wave frequency as event-days per year. These modeled frequencies are not forecasts.
| Hazard | NRI Risk Rating | Recurrence |
|---|---|---|
| Drought | Relatively High | 92 modeled event-days per year |
| Hail | Relatively Moderate | an average of 5.7 times per year |
| Lightning | Relatively High | an average of 45 times per year |
| Wildfire | Relatively Low | roughly once every 485 years |
| Winter Weather | Relatively Moderate | an average of 7.3 times per year |
| Cold Wave | Relatively Moderate | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Riverine Flooding | Relatively Low | an average of 1 time per year |
| Tornado | Relatively Low | an average of 1.2 times per year |
| Strong Wind | Relatively Low | an average of 2.1 times per year |
| Earthquake | Very Low | roughly once every 2,639 years |
| Heat Wave | Very Low | 0.5 modeled event-days per year |
| Ice Storm | Very Low | roughly once every 20 years |
| Landslide | Very Low | roughly once every 6 years |
Source: FEMA National Risk Index Modeled annualized frequency; drought and heat wave use event-days/year, December 2025 release
Disaster Types
Flood 2
Biological 2
Snowstorm 1
Coastal Storm 1
Severe Storm 1
Drought 1
Tornado 1
What Flood declarations mean here
Flood is the most frequent declaration type on Prowers County's record, 22% of its declarations. Federal flood declarations cover two mechanisms that behave very differently: riverine flooding, which builds over days as a watershed drains and is usually forecast well in advance, and flash flooding, which can arrive in under an hour from rainfall that fell somewhere upstream.
Flood is also the one hazard class where a second federal dataset exists for the same events. The National Flood Insurance Program records what was actually paid on insured losses, so it measures a narrower thing than the declaration count: uninsured damage, and flooding outside mapped special flood hazard areas, never enters it. Reading the two together is more informative than either alone.
Declaration counts describe past federal action. They are a record of what was declared, not a forecast of future hazard probability.
Declaration Types
What DR / EM / FM mean
FEMA categorizes declarations as Major Disasters (DR), Emergencies (EM), or Fire Management Assistance (FM).
Major Disaster - 5 55.6%
of all 9 declarations
Emergency - 4 44.4%
of all 9 declarations
FEMA Declarations Timeline
| Year | Declarations | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 1 | |
| 2020 | 2 | |
| 2007 | 1 | |
| 2005 | 1 | |
| 2001 | 1 | |
| 1997 | 1 | |
| 1977 | 1 | |
| 1965 | 1 | |
Disaster Declarations
How the 9 FEMA declarations break into federal action codes (DR / EM / FM). Same DISTINCT grain as the table below.
Download these 9 declarations as CSV . FEMA source data is public domain; our derived presentation is CC0.
| DR# | Title | Type | Incident | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4731 | SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, AND TORNADOES | DR | Flood | 2023-08-25 |
| 4498 | COVID-19 PANDEMIC | DR | Biological | 2020-03-28 |
| 3436 | COVID-19 | EM | Biological | 2020-03-13 |
| 3271 | SNOW | EM | Snowstorm | 2007-01-07 |
| 3224 | HURRICANE KATRINA EVACUATION | EM | Coastal Storm | 2005-09-05 |
| 1374 | SEVERE WINTER STORMS | DR | Severe Storm | 2001-05-17 |
| 1186 | SEVERE STORMS, HEAVY RAIN, FLASH FLOODS, FLOODING, MUDSLIDES | DR | Flood | 1997-08-01 |
| 3025 | DROUGHT | EM | Drought | 1977-01-29 |
| 200 | TORNADOES, SEVERE STORMS & FLOODING | DR | Tornado | 1965-06-19 |
Storm Events in Colorado
Statewide NOAA context only. PlainHazard does not currently attribute these state totals to Prowers County.
| Storm Type | Events | Fatalities | Injuries | Property Damage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hail | 4,913 | 0 | 100 | $2.9B |
| Winter Weather | 2,620 | 3 | 23 | $22.5K |
| High Wind | 1,992 | 5 | 6 | $20.9M |
| Thunderstorm Wind | 1,741 | 2 | 11 | $5.4M |
| Winter Storm | 1,497 | 0 | 0 | $848.0K |
Source: NOAA Storm Events Database State-level aggregated data, 2015-2025
NFIP Flood Insurance Claims
Total Claims
25
Total Paid
$29.7K
Avg Per Claim
$1.2K
Source: FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA Claims Data
FEMA National Risk Index
Overall Risk
Relatively Low
Score: 48.6/100
Expected Annual Loss
Very Low
$10.3M/year
Social Vulnerability
Very High
Community Resilience
Very Low
Hazard Risk Breakdown
Drought Relatively High
Hail Relatively Moderate
Lightning Relatively High
Wildfire Relatively Low
Winter Weather Relatively Moderate
Cold Wave Relatively Moderate
Riverine Flooding Relatively Low
Tornado Relatively Low
Strong Wind Relatively Low
Earthquake Very Low
Heat Wave Very Low
Ice Storm Very Low
Landslide Very Low
Source: FEMA National Risk Index (NRI) Ratings reflect relative scores among all US counties. Data: hazards.fema.gov/nri
The model's sharpest exposure here: Drought
Drought is the slowest of the modeled hazards and the least visible: it does its damage to agriculture, water supply and soil over seasons rather than hours, so it rarely produces the kind of single-day damage that drives a disaster declaration. FEMA scores it in event-days per year rather than discrete events for exactly that reason.
Worth noting for Prowers County: the model and the federal record do NOT point at the same hazard. Drought carries the highest modeled rating (Relatively High), while the county's declaration history is led by Flood. That is not a contradiction, the two measure genuinely different things. Declarations record federal ACTION, which requires damage costly enough to exceed state and local capacity; the Risk Index models EXPECTED annual loss across all 18 hazards whether or not any declaration ever followed. A hazard can be the county's largest modeled exposure and never once have driven a declaration.
National Risk Index ratings are modeled estimates of expected annual loss, not predictions of what will happen in any given year.
Data-matched county comparisons
Prowers County's closest FEMA peer: Adams County, ID
Comparisons use published FEMA declaration fields plus the National Risk Index composite for Prowers County. Record similarity, not a safety rating.
Closest declaration profiles
Prowers County shows 9 FEMA declarations, led by Flood.
Similar Major-disaster share
Prowers County: 5 of 9 of its declarations are Major.
Similar modeled NRI score
Prowers County: NRI composite 48.6 (Relatively Low).
How these peers are chosen
Cohort: Published U.S. county equivalents outside the source state or territory. Each metric keeps six ETL candidates; three unique destinations are shown after de-duplicating across axes. Declaration-volume ranking combines count and Major-disaster share and prefers a different leading incident type; Major-share ranks the Major fraction adjusted for volume; NRI ranks the modeled composite score only.
Retained FEMA snapshot feed for Prowers County - capture-dated entries only.
Compare beyond this state
Nationwide peers by NRI score & FEMA declaration volume
Two PlainHazard-derived comparison paths for Prowers County: nearest out-of-state National Risk Index composite and nearest FEMA declaration count (floor ≥5 records). Record similarity only, not a forecast of the next hazard.
Similar NRI composite
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA NRI score. This county: 48.6 (Relatively Low).
Similar declaration volume
Nearest out-of-state counties by FEMA declaration count. This county: 9. NRI peers are excluded so the two link sets stay distinct.
Further reading for this county
Understanding disaster data
FEMA's National Risk Index flags Drought as the top modeled exposure here (Relatively High); the guide explains how that model differs from declaration counts.
More PlainHazard guides
- Most disaster-prone counties - U.S. counties ranked by FEMA declaration totals.
- Understanding disaster data - declarations vs storm events vs NRI scores.
- Preparing for natural disasters - household checklist (not county-specific advice).
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the most common disaster type in Prowers County?
The most common disaster type in Prowers County is Flood, with 2 declarations. Other disaster types include Biological (2), Snowstorm (1), Coastal Storm (1).
How does Prowers County's FEMA declaration record compare with the Colorado average?
The typical Colorado county has 10.2 FEMA declaration records; Prowers County has 9, or 12% fewer. Against the national county mean of 20.7, this county's total is 57% lower. The comparison is historical and says nothing about the probability of a future event.
How many major FEMA disaster declarations has Prowers County received?
Prowers County has received 5 major disaster declarations, representing 56% of all 9 disaster declarations.
How many flood insurance claims has Prowers County filed?
Prowers County has 25 National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) claims totaling $29.7K in payments, with an average of $1.2K per claim.
Does FEMA's top risk-rated hazard match the highest Expected Annual Loss in Prowers County?
No. In Prowers County, Drought has the highest National Risk Index rating (Relatively High), while Riverine Flooding leads Expected Annual Loss at about $4.3M. FEMA's risk score and dollar-loss model use different inputs, so the leaders often differ.
What was the worst year for disasters in Prowers County?
The most active year for disaster declarations in Prowers County was 2020, with 2 declarations. The county has FEMA disaster data spanning 1965 to 2023.
What is the FEMA National Risk Index score for Prowers County?
According to the FEMA National Risk Index, Prowers County, Colorado has an overall risk score of 48.6 out of 100 (Relatively Low). Social vulnerability here rates Very High, while community resilience comes in at Very Low. The Expected Annual Loss (EAL) score is Very Low, representing $10.3M in annualized losses.
Which natural hazard poses the greatest risk to Prowers County?
Based on FEMA NRI data, the highest-risk natural hazard in Prowers County as of the latest release is Drought (risk rating: Relatively High). Other significant hazards include Hail (Relatively Moderate) and Lightning (Relatively High). FEMA's modeled event frequency puts drought here at 92 modeled event-days per year, drawn from 2,793 historical events on record. These scores are based on FEMA's analysis of historical event frequency, exposed assets, and community vulnerability.
Data Sources & Methodology
Disaster declaration data comes from the FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2 API, which includes all federally declared disasters, emergencies, and fire management assistance grants.
Storm event data is sourced from the NOAA Storm Events Database (2015-2025), which tracks significant weather events including thunderstorms, tornadoes, floods, and winter storms.
Flood insurance data comes from the FEMA National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) OpenFEMA claims dataset.
This data is provided for informational purposes only. FEMA disaster declarations represent federal response actions and may not capture all local emergencies or weather events.
FEMA OpenFEMA declarations + NRI for Prowers County · vintage 2026-08-25 · Methodology · Colorado profile · Verify with FEMA OpenFEMA · Verify with NOAA Storm Events